Day: July 4, 2018

This is the second book in the Replay series which tells the stories of the members of Downward Spiral, an epically professionally successful band where the members are falling apart.Or at least, the band is on the verge of falling apart because of some of the members.This one tells the story of Lando, who in the first book was a rock, a support of the other band members.At the end of book one, Face the Music, there was a very clever set up for the books to come and I was very happy that Lando was next.

Lando was supposed to be one of two of the song writers for the band but in reality he has been doing it all.From trying to keep Lincoln from hurting himself and keep Jude from self destructing to being responsible for all the song writing and it has taken a toll on him.“I feel wrung out physically and emotionally.I’m a battery with only ten present life left and no charger in sight.”

When their manager, Archer, suggests everyone take a vacation after the tour has to be canceled, Lando packs up and heads to Florida.Nine years ago he had a weekend in Florida with someone he fell in love with.He gave his phone number and they promised to keep in touch but it never happened. So for the past nine years the songs he’s written have been about Dawson, his muse and his long lost should have been.“I”ve written a dozen songs about him. I’ve stayed up nights thinking about him. I’ve gotten drunk and cried over him. I hardly know him, but in nine years, I haven’t been able to shake him.” He is thinking maybe he will see Dawson there, even if he isn’t totally hopeful.“Maybe there’s something wrong with me. Surely it can’t be normal after nine years to still want him so much.”But he has his grandfather’s story of knowing immediately upon meeting her who he would marry to make him think love at first weekend is possible.

Except, lo and behold, Dawson is also taking vacation at the same time and he does run into Lando. This meeting was a little coincidental but I was okay with.The problem? Dawson had an accident nine years ago and lost not only his hearing but also his memories.While Dawson has had a serious crush on Lando as the bass player for Downward Spiral, he doesn’t remember spending the weekend with Lando, the man.Dawson is a writer who’s words have deserted him and he’s now working as a bartender, sort of just existing.He was this fearless man before and things have changed.He has the support of his wonderful sister, Parker, but that is sort of it.

The book is told in first person point of view, alternating Lando and Dawson.In addition, it has flashbacks from nine years ago and today, cleverly titled Track, Side A or B.While I used to dislike first person, it has definitely grown on me because now I like getting into the mind of each character.Here in particular it’s helpful because Dawson is deaf and he does have memory gaps, so understanding where he is coming from was beneficial.It is a little heartbreaking when you realize that he puts everything into his calendar because he is terrified of forgetting.“Most days, the fear of forgetting something is worse than the actual forgetting.”He puts in what he did that day just to make sure he remembers.

When they run into each other at a bar in Florida Lando is overjoyed and then shocked when he find that Dawson, the man he’s dreamed of for years, doesn’t remember him at all.“He doesn’t recognize me. I’ve been obsessing over im for nine years, and he doesn’t even remember me. Could I be any more pathetic?”It was a hard moment.“I’ve spent all these years falling in love with the memory of a man who doesn’t exist anymore.”

But then he’s happy to get to know this new Dawson, who is a big fan even if he can’t remember what the songs sound like.And while he thinks Cherry Lane (the song Lincoln wrote about Jace) is “….okay, but the rest of the album is much ….more.They’re poetic and captivating. They’re original and beautiful.”So he loves the songs that Lando wrote, and happen to be the songs Lando wrote about him.

Lando does convince Dawson to spend some time with him and they work on getting to know each other again, this time with text messages and notepads instead of conversation with some bittersweet moments when Lando knows things about Dawson that Dawson can’t remember.Lando is so sweet, trying to learn ASL so he can communicate better.He is not the spoiled selfish rock star that you would expect.He is kind and gentle.This book is definitely softer than book one, because Lando is softer than Lincoln and it comes across.

They have obstacles to overcome, including paparazzi, a lost phone, trying to reconcile the past with the now and trying to get past the writer’s block they both seem to have.Lando hasn’t been able to write any songs, Dawson hasn’t been able to write any stories. Lando’s advice was so apt: “instead of trying to write a book that will change the world, let yourself try to write a book that will change one single person’s world.” We get to see Dawson try to find that fearless man he used to be and you just know how difficult that is.“Can I be brave again? Is that still in me?”

Dawson has some great insights into Lando. “I wonder if he ever does things because they’re what he wants the most, instead of what makes everyone around him happiest.”That sums up Lando well and he deserves to be happy himself.There are a few times that Dawson doesn’t react well to things Lando reveals but you have to give him that – for Lando it’s been nine years of longing whereas for Dawson it’s really the first time he’s with this man.

Archer, the manager, is so amazing and takes care of so much I was really looking forward to his book.Unfortunately, from the teasers in this book I have a feeling his is going to take a turn towards a theme I don’t care for so I may have to skip it.I will be bummed if so.

I liked the first book and I loved this one.There was just something about it that grabbed my heart and held on.I wanted so much for these guys.Even more, I was so happy that there was no magical fix of Dawson’s loss of hearing because in the real world it doesn’t work like that.Lando was in love with the man, unconditionally.Just what we all should have.

The cover art by Inked Design depicts Lando with the city in the background and the beach in the foreground.I found it very fitting and both books in the series have covers that show the band member almost exactly as I pictured them.

The last of the boys abused at the Bar Five Ranch, Daniel is finishing his final year of college when he’s approached by Jack Campbell-Hayes and a young man named Corey Dryden.Corey has recently lost his parents in a plane crash and discovered information his father obtained that implicated Corey’s uncle as one of the boys’ abusers at the ranch. Thinking only to protect his young sisters from finding out about their uncle, Corey doesn’t realize how the information spins Daniel’s well-ordered world.

Months later, after working a post graduate job that didn’t pan out, Daniel finally succumbs to the lure of the Legacy Ranch—the ranch where the others who escaped the Bar Five now work and/or support in some way. Thinking only to stay for one day, Daniel discovers his place there, and when a chance visit from Corey shows Daniel that they might have a mutual spark of interest, the groundwork is laid for a future relationship.

That’s a very simplified summary of the story but there’s a lot of detail about Corey’s family and how he came to find his father’s investigation into his uncle’s behavior. There’s also a lot of background on Daniel, how he was caught, how he was abused, a bit about his rescue and a lot about his adjustment to living in today’s world.

The main story took place over the course of nearly a year and the epilogue is three years later, allowing plenty of time for relationship development. However, the two men never quite gelled for me. Corey came across as very young, immature, acting impulsively on the next thing on his emotional “to do” list, making decisions without guidance. And he never really aged or mellowed, in my opinion. I also found his life situation unrealistic, somewhat trite—older brother now stuck with responsibility for younger sisters—and the business angle was odd. Everything from Corey assuming a controlling position in a well-established financial agency to the other partners and the board’s decision to disassociate with Corey’s father’s last name to Corey selling his shares and encouraging his sisters to do so felt rushed and unrealistic. If it were to happen in a real world, I highly doubt the process would take place so quickly or so simply.

Daniel seemed to remain aloof through most of the story. Granted, he should be aloof after what happened to him, but even with Corey, I didn’t feel their togetherness, their “oneness” so I couldn’t get into rooting for them to overcome the odds.In short, I found the romance lacking.

Overall, it’s a nice story, but short on depth and detail. If you’ve read the rest of the series, you should definitely pick this up, but it’s not the caliber of the first few books in the series in my opinion and definitely shouldn’t be read as a standalone since so many previous characters are involved.

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Cover art by Meredith Russell features a photo of a young man in the top pane with a background of city (or college) buildings and an overview of a quiet park scene in the lower pane.Likely both photos represent the college in which Daniel is studying as the story opens.The colors are a green-brown tint so there’s nothing outstanding about the cover to attract attention.

In the nineteenth century, the dragon Dìzhèn put the small coastal town of Everlasting under her protection. Her family was supposed to carry on the tradition, but all of Dìzhèn the Great’s heirs eventually left rather than live in the shadow of such a powerful dragon.

Only the youngest dragon of the current generation remains: Zarrin, the softhearted disgrace of his family. He might be weak, small, and afraid, but he is determined to show the humans they have not been forgotten… one human in particular. The problem is, Zarrin can barely get that human to talk to him.

It should be a dream come true to have a dragon trying to get his attention. But Joe refuses to bow to Zarrin like everyone else. Yes, Zarrin is sexy, oddly gentle for a dragon, and stares at Joe with a gaze so hot it makes him shiver. But hurt, mistrustful Joe can’t believe Zarrin’s promises that he’s here to stay. Joe doesn’t realize he is the treasure Zarrin has been looking for his whole life, a treasure he once let slip through his fingers out of fear. Now, to win Joe’s trust, Zarrin has to be brave and become as strong as Dìzhèn herself.

This was a nice story. Joe has been hurt in the past and isn’t willing to trust that someone would really want him let alone a dragon. Zarrin isn’t sure what he is doing wrong but want to get to know his treasure and he ends up with an unexpected friend to help along the way.

Both Zarrin and Joe were so sweet. Both of them have been hurt before in different ways but it make them both vulnerable and they deserved to find love. I loved watching them find the love and happiness with each other they have always wanted. While I like the stories I have read in this series I get insanely frustrated with how people and beings talk around topics and at the end I just felt that Joe didn’t fully believe he was Zarrin’s forever.

Dominic Carlos did a nice job narrating this story. I think his reading went well with this author’s style of writing. Though his reading was a bit slow for me to keep my attention and I ended up increasing the speed a bit..

Cover art by Paul Richmond is wonderful and I loved the picture of these characters.

Seb Radcliffe relocates to a small seaside town in Cornwall, hoping to open a restaurant/café and just enjoy life in this peaceful place.With encouragement from a young lesbian couple, he decides to make his café LGBT-friendly.He hires Jason Dunn, a highly recommended builder, to do the renovations, and at first sight it’s evident that he and Jason have a lot in common. But Jason is deeply closeted and it takes a while for his desire for Seb to overcome his fears.

The two finally act on their attraction but do so out of the public eye so Jason can maintain his closet space. He gets so deeply involved with Seb, though, that he decides to make plans to slowly come out—just not quite yet. But when they are a week from opening the café, homophobes ransack the restaurant, painting homophobic graffiti outside and in, and Jason abandons Seb, letting his fears rule his heart.

I was very disappointed in Jason at that point in the story and couldn’t see how Seb could ever forgive him for turning his back on him when he needed Jason most.But lo and behold, Jay Northcote had an acceptable solution up his sleeve—one that totally surprised me and appeased me enough that I could forgive Jason and root for the couple after all.So kudos for that.

This is a lovely MM romance set in the UK, so it’s full of Brit words and phrases.I love that as it adds to the authenticity of the work.The men are in their thirties, another plus in my opinion, and the romance takes time to develop to a full-blown HEA.The author also laid the groundwork for the sense of community and the support Seb received was outstanding.It would be a lovely place to visit some day.

Highly recommended, this is a standalone, though apparently first in a series, so I’m looking forward to more romance set in this quaintly beautiful world.

The cover by Garrett Leigh features a photo of a brawny young man: naked torso, hand roughing up his hair, with a rainbow border across the bottom of the cover—a great representation of Jason at work at Rainbow Place.

This collection includes Clare London’s first two charming London-based novellas of the With A Kick series – A Twist and Two Balls, and Slap and Tickle. Also included are two short stories featuring the characters in these books. WITH A KICK

A new and enticing ice cream franchise, with a unique blend of full flavour, mischief and romance. Patrick and Lee are struggling to make a success of their alcoholic ice cream shop in the centre of tourist London. At the same time, their business partnership may take a turn towards the personal – if either of them can find the time and nerve to go for it! Meanwhile, they cater to the wild and wonderful range of customers in the area, many of whom have their own romantic agenda. Will ice cream be the final ingredient they’re all looking for? Each story is a self-contained romance, but will follow the history of the shop throughout. A TWIST AND TWO BALLS

Eduardo Mancini is going to be a star of the London stage. Unfortunately, his alter ego Eddy March hasn’t got further than a bit part in a TV series. One ghastly day, he’s late for an audition, can’t pay his taxi fare, and is chased across Soho by the irate driver, Nuri. But maybe being caught by Nuri is exactly what Eddy needs. SLAP AND TICKLE

Bryan is an accountant who admires order and self-discipline. When he literally bumps into Phiz outside With A Kick, Phiz’s lifestyle and behaviour appear totally chaotic. But they each recognise something in the other that they need. Bryan needs a lover who welcomes his secret desire, and Phiz needs a firm hand–in every way. They both agree that Bryan may be just the man to provide it.

Clare London took her pen name from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home, she juggles her writing with her other day job as an accountant.

She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with award-winning novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic, and sexy characters.

Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter-three stage and plenty of other projects in mind… she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fueled family home.

Clare loves to hear from readers, and you can contact her on all her social media.

Daniel worked hard at college, using coping strategies to shut himself off from any situation that might hurt. But, persistent nightmares and fears for his future drive him to revisit the past. Now Legacy might be the only place to give him a chance at peace.

After the tragic loss of his parents, Corey is head of the family now, and the welfare of his three younger sisters are what matters the most. Corey is desperate to find Daniel, tell him the truth and somehow convince him to keep secrets. Even if this leads to heartbreak.

When the world crumbles around Corey, and Daniel is running scared, Legacy ranch is their only hope.

A new story set in the world of Jack and Riley Campbell-Hayes and the Double D Ranch, Texas.

Eight years ago
I want to go home.Daniel Chandler trudged miserably down the long black ribbon of road, tears burning his eyes, and hopelessness tightening his chest. The heat of an August Texas day had subsided to a slightly cooler evening, and the sky was a brilliant mass of stars, but he couldn’t bring himself to look up at them anymore.

How had everything gone this badly wrong? Brett had promised that he would take Daniel somewhere far away from his foster family, but one weird question from an inquisitive cashier at a gas station and Brett had panicked. He’d refused to go any further, and said he was going home.

Daniel didn’t want to go back to San Antonio. He wanted freedom, and the ability to decide for himself where his life was going. He’d overheard his foster parents talking about how he was a liability; that he costed them more than they made, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they got rid of him anyway.

So he refused to leave with Brett and got out of the car.

Brett didn’t care, and he drove away, leaving Daniel stranded.

Daniel kicked a stone, stumbling a little when he misjudged the curve of the road. He’d eaten the cereal bars that Brett had tossed him and used up all the water. Which left him in the heat, without food or drink, and carrying a backpack with limited clothes. He also had books—his favorites, and a wallet which contained nothing more than a couple of hundred dollars he’d saved from his gardening job. The only official thing he had in the bag was his ID.

He’d left his most recent home at six-thirty a.m., with no real idea of where he was going or what he was doing, only knowing he wasn’t going to spend another minute in a house where he wasn’t wanted.

Hunching his shoulders against the weight of his backpack, he carried on. Sometimes he hummed to a song in his head. Other times he counted the steps he took, but most of the time he stared ahead, not counting or humming at all.

A car pulled up alongside him. No, a truck, and at first his heart leaped. Brett was back. He’d changed his mind and returned to help Daniel.

A female voice called out. “Can we give you a lift somewhere?” she asked through the open window.

Daniel saw she wasn’t much older than he was, long blonde hair swept up into a ponytail, her smile wide, her expression kind. A man sat in the driver’s seat, but he was in the shadows, and at first, Daniel couldn’t make out his face until he leaned forward. The first thing Daniel noticed was the dog collar, then the same kindly smile as the girl. They were clearly related, both fair, with light eyes and an angular balance to their features.

“Hello, young man. My daughter and I are heading to Laredo. Would you like us to take you?”

He smiled at Daniel, this man in black with the white collar. This was an average family. They probably thought he was a hitchhiker and were offering genuine help. If Daniel couldn’t trust a man of the cloth traveling with his daughter, then who could he trust? He scanned the road behind him, waiting for Brett to suddenly appear and pick him up, but he was tired, hungry, and verging on desperate.

“Thank you.” Daniel opened the back door. He’d never hitchhiked before, didn’t know what the etiquette was, but he felt like he should offer to pay. “I can cover gas,” he said.

“No need for that,” the dad said and extended a hand awkwardly over the seat, which Daniel shook. “Father Frank Martins and this is my daughter Andrea.”

Andrea glanced back at him and grinned again. “Hey.”

“Daniel,” Daniel replied, as mute as usual around a girl as he was with boys. She turned back to the front, and Frank put the truck in drive.

“Buckle up,” he said.

Daniel did as he was told. Then settled back for the ride.

“Where are you from?” Frank asked after a few moments of silence, filled only with the soft sound of tires on blacktop.

“San Antonio,” Daniel answered.

“Really? What brings you this far south?”

Andrea shushed her dad, “Stop asking him questions, Daddy.”

Her dad huffed a gentle laugh. “Sorry.” He used the mirror to see Daniel. “You like music?”

Daniel nodded, thankful to Andrea for running interference.

Frank fiddled with the stereo. Country music filled the cab, and Frank hummed along. Andrea was on her phone, as evidenced by the glow of light as screens changed, and Daniel regretted leaving his phone at home. In his mad, stupid, anger, he’d wanted no way for his foster parents to keep tabs on him, but right now, he kind of wished he could phone them. He should pluck up the courage and ask Andrea to borrow hers. Maybe give his foster-parents a quick call, apologize, get them to pick him up, or at least arrange a bus.

They would help him. He didn’t doubt that. Even if he’d been an idiot and they wanted to hand him off to the next family, they would never leave a fourteen year old kid stranded miles from home.

“You thirsty?” Frank asked, and before Daniel could answer, Frank had unlocked the glove box and pulled out a bottle of water, passing it back to Daniel.

He took it with grateful thanks and downed a third of it in thirsty gulps. They reached the outskirts of a small town, and the car slowed to a stop outside a cookie-cutter house, a pretty place with manicured lawns.

Andrea turned around to look at Daniel.

“This is where I get out,” she announced. “Nice to meet you, Daniel.”

I thought they were both going on to Laredo?

Frank turned around as well. “I can take you all the way into the city. It’s only another ten minutes or so to the bus station or somewhere like that? A hostel?”

“I’m not sure—”

Frank interrupted, “Or you could stay the night here or a motel. We have one a few blocks down from here.”

Andrea shut the door and jogged up to the house, vanishing inside.

“Could I just borrow your phone?” Daniel asked.

Frank smiled, nodded, and pulled out his phone, tutting as he did so. “Oh my, the phone’s dead. You want to use my house phone? Or shall I just get you to the city? The bus station, right? They have public phones there.”

So many decisions. So many difficult choices, he thought and yawned.

“Yeah.” Daniel just wanted to get home.

“Yeah, what?” Frank prompted.

Daniel blinked at him. He was tired, and everything felt kind of hazy. “Yeah, home.” Back to his pretend parents and his pretend family, but back to a warm bed.

“Come on. Get in the front here.”

Daniel did as he was told, his limbs feeling heavy, and his coordination shit. Finally, he was belted in the front, and he closed his eyes briefly, exhaustion washing over him.

“That’s a good boy,” Frank murmured. “You sleep now.”

The country music got quieter, Frank’s humming was louder, and the journey to the city took a long time, the car swaying, and Daniel’s head thicker, full of softness and a weird kind of peace. He saw fields and signs, but none of them made any sense. Finally, he couldn’t fight the overwhelming lethargy, so he slept.

And woke up in hell.

About The Author

RJ’s goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.

RJ is the author of the over one hundred novels and discovered romance in books at a very young age. She realized that if there wasn’t romance on the page, she could create it in her head, and is a lifelong writer.

She lives and works out of her home in the beautiful English countryside, spends her spare time reading, watching films, and enjoying time with her family.

The last time she had a week’s break from writing she didn’t like it one little bit and has yet to meet a bottle of wine she couldn’t defeat.

When Seb Radcliffe relocates to a seaside town in Cornwall, he feels like a fish out of water. He misses queer spaces and the sense of community he enjoyed when he was living in the city, and decides to open an LGBT-friendly cafe–bar.

Jason Dunn is the builder Seb hires to help renovate the rundown space where the cafe will be housed. Jason is also gay, but unlike Seb, he’s deep in the closet. He’s never had a relationship with another man—only allowing himself the occasional hook up with guys who are prepared to be discreet.

The attraction between the two men is instant and impossible to ignore. But while Seb is out and proud, Jason is terrified of being exposed. With the grand opening of Rainbow Place approaching, tension is growing among some locals who object to Seb’s plans. When things escalate, Jason is forced to choose whether to hide in the shadows and let Seb down, or to openly support the man he’s fallen so hard for.

Although this book is part of a series, it has a satisfying happy ending and can be read as a standalone.

Jay lives just outside Bristol in the West of England. He comes from a family of writers, but always used to believe that the gene for fiction writing had passed him by. He spent years only ever writing emails, articles, or website content.

One day, Jay decided to try and write a short story—just to see if he could—and found it rather addictive. He hasn’t stopped writing since.

Jay writes contemporary romance about men who fall in love with other men. He has five books published by Dreamspinner Press, and also self-publishes under the imprint Jaybird Press. Many of his books are now available as audiobooks.